Protect and restore old-growth forests

How this will help

(Madison, Wisconsin)
– Ecological Internet – a small forest and climate protection NGO with a global
reach – is thrilled to have contributed to an additional 170,000 hectares (about
420,000 acres) of Tasmania, Australia, old-growth forests being
protected. Following decades of local protest, six years of blockades, tree
sitting, and extensive international affinity campaigns spearhead by Ecological
Internet and others, most of Tasmania's remaining old-growth has been granted
World Heritage area protection, which should exclude further logging. The
Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area has been extended to include the
iconic Upper Florentine and areas within the Styx, Huon, Picton, and Counsel
River Valleys.

Tasmania is home to the tallest
hardwood forests on Earth, with eucalyptus trees reaching nearly 100 metres and
living for over 400 years, existing within one of Earth's greatest tracts of
large, connected, and ecologically intact temperate rainforest. Tasmania contains large
tracts of natural old-growth forest, glacial landforms, alpine and sub-alpine
environments, wild rivers, indigenous heritage sites, and critical endangered
species habitat. There are many species that rely on old growth trees for their
survival, including important habitat for rare and threatened species such as
the endangered wedge-tailed eagle and the Tasmanian devil.

"It's fantastic that after so many
years of campaigning, conservationists around Tasmania, and indeed the world,
can celebrate the protection of these magnificent wild forests that contain the
tallest flowering plants on earth and an array of wonderful wildlife… We can
all smile broadly knowing that at last Tasmania's forests of outstanding universal
value are now protected for all time," states Green Leader Christine Milne
after the announcement was made by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and
the Australian government on Monday. Forest
conservationists must remain vigilant, as some politicians continue to espouse
logging in the World Heritage area, which would make a mockery of this
important declaration.